Over 30 % of the Turkish population live in
small villages, often under poor conditions. In these regions the main source
of income is agriculture. The recent globalization trend in the world makes
the sustainable living conditions in rural areas very difficult. There are
high cost of fertilizers and pesticides used in conventional agriculture, high
fuel costs, there is the uncertainty in decision making on the type of crop to
be cultivated for the coming years, the limited opportunities for education of
children, and the unequal and unbearable workload for men and especially for
women. Some of the difficulties are due to recent policies of IMF and World
Trade Organization who impose on governments to lift subsidies on agriculture.
Turkey, once considered as one of the agriculturally self-sustaining countries
of the world, now imports even some of the major agricultural products like
grain, beans and oil producing crops.

All these issues are closely related to each
other, and can be seen as an integrated interdisciplinary complex societal
problem. Before handling a complex problem, one has to make a thorough
analysis of all aspects of the problem. In the proposed project, this will be
realized by an integrated approach based on the COMPRAM method. Mathematical
modelling, data mining and modern computer devices will be used during
different phases of the study.

Social scientists, concerned about these
problems, carried out studies for a long time, however, the results could not
be applied. Now a real life project is proposed: the Balaban Valley Project
for improving the quality of life in a rural area. The Balaban Valley Project
is located 60 km east of Ankara where four villages are selected with a total
population of about 1300 people.

The problems of the rural area will be handled
systematically by a team of experts and students from universities, various
state organizations, companies and stakeholders from the villagers living in
the area, government organizations and NGO's. The decisions made will be
implemented and the results will be assessed. The project will be handled
dynamically, for instance, in a sense of learning, whereby any changes will be
made when needed. In the course of the project, communication and
interdisciplinarity, mutual respect, partnership and, finally, hope will play
a significant role throughout.

An improvement of the living conditions in the
rural areas is considered to be the basic interest not only of the local
people, but also of entire Turkey, and even of Europe concerning its process
of integration. In the last 50 years the settlement structure in Turkey has
undergone a major change from rural areas to large cities. Due to the need of
cheap labor in Europe, poorly equipped people from rural areas were accepted
as workers from Turkey and other developing countries. The migration of
people, starting from 1960's, from rural areas to large cities in their
homeland Turkey and to European countries caused problems. Giving the people
in rural areas a chance to improve their living conditions in their own area
prevents the need of immigration to large cities, where the newcomers often
have a hard time to meet the complex demands needed for adapting adequately.